If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

HER Number:

MDV3862

Name:

Devon Great Consolidated Mine, Gulworthy

Summary

Devon Great Consolidated Mine worked in the 19th century and including Wheals Maria, Fanny, Anna Maria (Upper and lower dressing floors and arsenic refinery), Josiah, Emma, Thomas/Watson's Mine, Frementor and the 1925 Arsenic Works. A number of earthworks and structures were recorded here from aerial photographs of 1947 during the Tamar Valley NMP project.

Devon Great Consols. A rich lode of copper found in Blanchdown Wood high above the River Tamar. Wheal Maria, Wheal Fanny, Wheal Anna Maria, Wheal Josiah and Wheal Emma, known collectively as the Great Devon Consols Mines after May 1846 (previously known as North Bedford and Wheal Maria). The mine at first was worked with one small water wheel to pump out the water. Additional pumping power needed when the lower levels were reached. By 1847 steam engines had been erected. In 1849 it was decided to use mainly water power from the Tamar. Water power used for crushing the ore in the stamps. A railway was built to link the mine with the port of Morwellham, 4 1/2 miles down the Tamar. A tall chimney stack dominating the countryside, the shattered remnants of the reduction works and the huge bare mounds of black and red waste from the ovens remain. Shafts can still be located, very overgrown.

Devon Great Consols Mine on land owned by the Duke of Bedford produced copper ore, mundic (iron pyrites) and arsenic. The Devon Great Consols closed down on 31st May 1901 and left a vast broken landscape extending for 2 miles along the Tamar.

Devon Great Consols mine was the richest copper mine in Europe for almost twenty years and when its lodes began to fail it went on to produce arsenic in vast quantities. It was the only mine in Devon and Cornwall to build its own standard guage railway and its own foundry produced steam engines and water wheels used for pumping and crushing ore. The mine finally closed in 1903 although intermittent working continued until 1940. The last mineral material to be obtained from Devon Great Consols was a quantity of ochre for paint manufacture obtained during World War II from the mine's main drainage adit.

Devon Great Consols Mine (Copper & Arsenic, Disused).Devon Great Consols Mine, was opened in 1844. By 1878 it had produced over 622,000 tons of copper and 76,000 tons of arsenic. In the 1880s production concentrated on arsenic. The mines extended over 160 acres and were among the largest and richest copper mines in the world. This mine was the only one in the district with its own railway system. It closed in 1901. Little of this vast enterprise survives. Heaps of waste and the ruins of the arsenic plant cover a wide area but little else remains. (Industrial Archaeology in Devon, W Minchinton 1976)

At Frementor Mine quartz with wolfram and tin lie nearest the walls followed by mispickel and chalcopyrite, then quartz with fluorspar, and some copper in the centre. At Devon Great Consols the Great Lode was lined with mispickel, while the centre was infilled with chalcopyrite, and a similar development also occurs in Holnthiish.

During the 19th-century mining boom the river Tamar was obviously a very busy thoroughfare and Gawton Quay was already handling the ores of Wheal Maria (Devon Great Consols), for example, in 1844.

Small scale prospecting took place in the mid-18C but extensive working began only in 1844 when the 18C shaft (Gards Shaft) was widened and deepened. The mine was named Wheal Maria. Four further mines opened as the copper lode was pursued eastwards. In the late 1860s - early 1870s copper prices fell. To offset this the company invested in arsenic production. Arsenic works constructed near Wheal Anna Maria in 1866-7 (see PRN 3873). Most mining ceased in 1902, although copper-precipitating works operated until c1940. However, in 1915 upper levels of Wheal Fanny and Wheal Frementor reopened. Wheal Fanny ore was transported by tramway to Bedford United Mine for stamping. Arsenic ores were calcined at the Coombe Works at Calstock until 1921, when a small works was constructed at Wheal Anna Maria, just north of its 19C predecessor. By 1923 work re-commenced at Wheal Maria and South Wheal Fanny, but owing to a price slump mining ceased in 1924-25 and only Frementor re-opened later in 1925, continuing production until its final closure in 1930. The area is now chiefly woodland, the waste dumps being quarried for roadstone. Other details: Figs 1-5 + Plates 1-10.

Inventory made by Exeter Museums Archaeological Field Unit Report in 1989. Workings covered 140 acres, reaching depths of over 500 metres. The richest copper mine in Europe in the mid 19th century. Arsenic production began in the 1860s and in 1869 half the world's output came from the mine. All surplus structures except a few cottages were levelled when operations ceased in 1902. Other details: Plan.

Richardson, P. H. G., 1992, The Mines of Dartmoor and the Tamar Valley after 1913, 94-108 (Article in Serial). SDV323598.

Copper and arsenic mines comprising, from east to west, Wheal Maria, Wheal Fanny, Wheal Anna Maria, Wheal Josiah and Wheal Emma. Heyday 1844 to 1903. Lesser mine, Wheal Frementor or Fremator was situated to south of Anna Maria. The main lode was 2 miles long, 40 feet wide and at least 1800 feet deep. Initially discovery in 1844 in area that became Wheal Maria. The works closed in 1903 but there was a resurgence from 1915-1921 at Wheal Fanny and Wheal Frementor. A further re-opening occurred from 1922-25 at Wheal Maria, Anna Maria and Fanny. A new arsenic works was built at Anna Maria and infrastructure works constructed such as inclines and extensions to the railway. Most had shut again by 1925 but Frementor was re-opened and worked until 1930. Some surface working for copper continued to the early 1940s.

The Tavistock and District Local History Society, 1994, About Tavistock: An Historical Introduction and Six Town Walks, 12-13 (Monograph). SDV354806.

Devon Great Consols mine was the largest in the area. The mine, at Blanchdown, overlooking the River Tamar, opened in 1844 and in its heyday employed 1200 people.

Early 20th century arsenic works overlying 19th century copper and arsenic mine, well documented and with high survival illustrating the full diversity of features of the technology. Very highly representative of the period in the industry.

A major resource requirement, but use of brick and stone rather than concrete suggests a practicable task, although natural environmental interests may constrain activities. Unsuitable for adaptation, and suitable for low-key public enjoyment and education with caution over arsenical residues. Stratigraphy and residues fragile and vulnerable to visitor pressure and other ground disturbance.

An industrial complex of features are visible as a series of structures and earthwork features, including spoil heaps, ditches, banks and cut features on aerial photographs of 1947. The features are associated with copper and arsenic mining.

Integral components of Devon Great Consolidated Mine are Wheal Maria, Wheal Fanny, Wheal Anna Maria (Upper dressing floor), Wheal Anna Maria (Lower dressing floor and arsenic refinery), Wheal Josiah, Wheal Emma, Wheal Thomas/Watson's Mine, Wheal Frementor, the 1925 Arsenic Works. The whole mining site covers 474 hectares and is 3 kilometres from east to west by 3.5 kilometres from north to south and includes the Bedford Mines and part of Wheal Russell Mine to the south. About 45 miles of shafts, levels and winzes were sunk, 33 waterwheels were fed by over 8 miles of leats powering over 4.33 kilometres of flat rods. The Earl of Bradford owns most of the wooded site. Evidence exists for mining from the 18th century with most of the industrial archaeology dating from 1844 to 1978 and includes old mine shafts, adits, spoil heaps, quarries, mine building sites, earthworks and transport infrastructure. The site inventory includes over 400 individual sites within the Devon Great Consols Mine complex and constitutes part of Conwall's bid for World Heritage Site status for the Tamar Valley. Other details: Figs 1-38.

Devon Great Consols, a copper mine which also produced tin and lead, was formed in 1844 and was originally known as North Bedford Mines or Wheal Maria and comprised a number of mines including Wheal Anna Maria, Wheal Josiah, Wheal Emma, Wheal Frementor and Wheal Watson. In 1846 the Devonshire Great Consolidated Copper Mining Company was formed to work the mine. The mines extended over 160 acres and were among the largest and richest copper mines in the world. Although by 1847 steam engines had been installed at Wheal Maria, Wheal Josiah, Wheal Anna Maria and Wheal Emma. Concerns over the rising cost of fuel for the engines led to plans to dewater workings using water power. Three large leats were constructed to supply the water. One of the leats, Great Leat, powered a 40-foot water-wheel near Blanchdown Farm which pumped water from three shafts at Wheal Maria and Wheal Josiah. The river powered 33 wheels on the mine. In 1870 the mine started to produce arsenic and produced about half the world's supply of arsenic. By 1878 the mine had produced over 622,000 tons of copper and 76,000 tons of arsenic. In the 1880s production concentrated on arsenic. This mine was the only one in the district with its own railway system and the mine employed around 1,300 people. The mine closed in 1903, but in 1915 mining resumed at Wheal Fanny for arsenic and Wheal Frementor for tin and tungsten. Work finally ceased in 1930. Much of the industrial archaeology that survives dates from the early twentieth century working. Other details: Number SX4273/4-16.

A dense concentration of earthwork and structural features have been transcribed and recorded here as part of this survey. These features are associated with the mines that make up the Devon Great Consolidation Mine. However, due to the density of the transcribed features and the complex and extensive nature of the Devon Great Consolidation Mine, as depicted on historic maps, it has not been possible to separate out and attach these features to the many individual mines which are recorded here. Instead, a single monument polygon has been created within this record to encompass the entirety of the Devon Great Consolidation Mine. This extent of area is based on the project area from an assessment in 2002 by Cornwall County Council entitled ‘Devon Great Consols: Archaeological Assessment’.

Waterhouse, R., 2017, The Tavistock Canal. Its History and Archaeology, 213-14, (Monograph). SDV361789.

Wheal Capeltor was on the western edge of what was later to become Devon Great Consols. It was worked from 1802-1811 by John Tayor, apparently at a loss. It was reworked from the late 1840s as Devon Great United Mine, or sometime West Maria and Fortescue.

Monograph: The Tavistock and District Local History Society. 1994. About Tavistock: An Historical Introduction and Six Town Walks. About Tavistock: An Historical Introduction and Six Town Walks. A5 Paperback. 12-13.